MSAQSO2L4: Global Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Satellite Instruments

A global catalogue of annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from large point sources, combining data from three satellite instruments: OMI, OMPS, and TROPOMI. The dataset, produced by NASA as part of the Multi-Decadal SO2 Climatology project, contains site coordinates, source type, country, source name, annual emissions, uncertainties, and pixel counts. Emission estimates are derived by fitting satellite vertical column densities to an empirical plume model to calculate total mass and annual emission rates.

Use Cases

• Tracking industrial SO2 emission trends based on annual emissions data for large point sources.
• Analyzing the geographic distribution of SO2 pollution based on site coordinates and country information.
• Comparing emission estimates and uncertainties derived from different satellite instruments (OMI, OMPS, TROPOMI).
• Validating atmospheric plume dispersion models based on the described empirical plume fitting method.

Strengths

• Integrates data from three major satellite instruments (OMI, OMPS, TROPOMI) for a multi-sensor perspective.
• Provides annual emissions, uncertainties, and pixel counts, offering quantitative metrics for analysis.
• Based on operational retrieval algorithms (PCA and COBRA) and a consistent Air-Mass Factor calculation method.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.
• Focuses on large point sources, likely omitting diffuse or smaller-scale emission contributors.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite data from OMI (Aura), OMPS (SNPP), and TROPOMI (Sentinel-5P) processed with retrieval algorithms and an empirical plume model fit.

Time Range

Multi-decadal (specific years not stated in input).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:35:01.177044; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global